By: JJ Lanier

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

At the beginning of the season the SEC was shaping up to be a three headed monster.

You had Georgia, Florida, and possibly Tennessee, all favored at one point or another to contend for the division title.

I know we’re only three weeks in and things can change quicker than the cast of All My Children but right now it feels obvious that Georgia is separating itself from the rest of the pack.

It’s not necessarily that Georgia has been overly impressive, as much as it is the Gators and Vols have been very underwhelming. It’s kind of like saying you enjoyed Rocky IV compared to Rocky V.

Florida, the team most thought would compete with Georgia, has had a less than desirable start to their season.

First, you had the opening weekend loss to Michigan, where the Gators at least had the excuse that basically half their team was suspended. And I would relish that excuse too, because I don’t believe Florida would’ve fared much better had all their players been eligible.

Their second game against Northern Colorado, which would’ve been as close to a guaranteed win as they’ll have all year, was correctly cancelled due to Hurricane Irma.

Then you had the Tennessee game, which they won, yet we all as fans, somehow lost. The glaring problem for Florida is their offense, you know, the side of the ball where Jim McElwain made his name.

I’d use an analogy to demonstrate how inept their offense has been, but I’ve used so many over McElwain’s short tenure I would just be scraping the bottom of the insult barrel.

As for Tennessee, I’m not sure if Butch Jones is just an overrated coach, or if he does such an amazing job of selling how talented his team is, when they really aren’t that good.

All I know is it wouldn’t surprise to see them lose to a UMass team this weekend and beat Alabama on their home field in a few weeks.

I mean, if a team with two quarterbacks doesn’t really have a quarterback, then a good team with that type of inconsistency isn’t really a good team, right? Again, I have no idea what all this says about the Volunteers or their head coach, but it’s not positive.

Which brings us to the Dawgs. I’ve been very impressed with their defense up to his point and Fromm has been more than adequate filling in for Eason. I feel like I don’t really know how good this team is though.

The Appalachian win was a good one, but kind of hard to take much from that game, similar to their win against Samford this past weekend. Beating the Irish in South Bend was nice but the reality is the win looks good in name recognition only.

It’s hard to get too excited when you beat a team whose head coach is in a foot race with Kevin Sumlin to see who is the first head coach fired.

After Mississippi State’s throttling of LSU, a win against their mascots namesake would certainly give Georgia its best win to date.

There’s still a long way to go until the end of the season, but as of right now the SEC East crown is Georgia’s to lose.

Luckily for them, with what seems to be a growing pattern in the East these last few years, it will only take a Rocky III type effort to pull it off.